September 2024
HR Cement launches Eco-Cem brand in New Zealand 24 January 2017
New Zealand: HR Cement has launched Eco-Cem, a brand of pozzolanic cement. The cement producers says it will source its pozzolan from the Central Plateau on the North Island, according to the Scoop news website. The cement producer operates a cement grinding plant at Mt Maunganui near Tauranga. It also produces a Ordinary Portland Cement branded as HR Cement General Purpose (GP) Cement.
Ahangarancement plant raises production in 2016 24 January 2017
Uzbekistan: Ahangarancement JSC has increased its cement production by 5.2% year-on-year to 1.86Mt in 2016 from 1.78Mt in 2015. Clinker production grew by 4.9% to 1.34Mt from 1.28Mt, according to the Trend News Agency. In total, the Eurocement-owned cement producer’s sales of cement rose by 4.8% to 1.86Mt. Cement and clinker production rose by 4.1% and 3.4% respectively in 2015.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to invest US$245 in cement plant 24 January 2017
Pakistan: Pervez Khattak, the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has ordered that plans to build a cement plant at Haripur be sped up. He made the pronouncement while attending a meeting to plan infrastructure development in the region including new towns, an oil refinery and hydroelectric projects, according to the Dawn newspaper. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) officials who attended the meeting said that US$245m would be invested in the cement plant project. Altogether the investments total nearly US$10bn and are part of the on-going China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative.
Cherat Cement to build new production line at Nowshera plant 24 January 2017
Pakistan: Cherat Cement has announced plants to build a third production line at its plant at Nowshera in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The new line will have a cement production capacity of 7100t/day, according to the Express Tribune newspaper. The upgrade will increase the company’s production capacity to 4.5Mt/yr.
The cement producer opened at second production line at the site in late 2016. It is also planning to build a waste heat recovery unit.
Filter system to be upgraded at Vencemos’ Pertigalete plant 24 January 2017
Venezuela: The filter system at the Venezolana de Cementos (Vencemos) plant in Pertigalete is to be upgraded. The plant has reportedly had a capacity utilisation rate of 20% due to its filters, according to the Nueva Prensa newspaper. The state-owned company lacks the funding to import new equipment so the work will be conducted locally with a budget of US$25m. The upgrade is expected to be completed by the end of February 2017.
Following inspections at the plant, managers denied that the plant was operating at 20% of its capacity, despite the comments of workers at the plant. However, they did agree that its was operating below full capacity due to faulty equipment at the Planta I unit. Workers protested in mid-January 2017 over high levels of emissions at the plant
The Pertigalete plant reportedly produced 45% of all cement in the country in 2016 and it has a target of 66% in 2017.
Russian certification hits Akmenės Cementas export market 24 January 2017
Lithuania: Mandatory cement certification in Russia has forced Akmenės Cementas and other cement producers based in the European Union (EU) to send their exports elsewhere. The Lithuanian cement producer has compensated for this by moving its sales in other markets, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. Akmenes Cementas’s sales fell by 8% year-on-year to Euro51m in 2016 from Euro55.4m in 2015.
Around 60% of its sales revenue came from local sales in Lithuania, 20% from sales in other Baltic countries and Belarus and 20% from Scandinavian countries. Previously, exports to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad accounted for 30% of the company’s revenue. The company expects to generate sales of Euro54m in 2017 based on existing contracts.
Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials opens office Jordan 23 January 2017
Jordan: The Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials (AUCBM) has opened a regional office in Amman. The office will be managed by Khaled Tarawneh, the General Manager of Arab Company for White Cement Industry and an AUCBM board member. The office is intended to support member companies of the AUCBM towards training workers at cement plants and supporting the AUCBM with its events.
Trinidad & Tobago: The directors of Trinidad Cement have once again advised shareholders to reject an offer by Cemex to buy the company. In a circular to shareholders the cement producer said that the amended offer made by Cemex in early January 2017 was still below the value its auditors had calculated. Cemex previously made an offer to Trinidad Cement in December 2016.
Insee Cement signs partnership with local universities 23 January 2017
Sri Lanka: Insee Cement has signed research and development partnership deal’s with the Universities of Peradeniya, Moratuwa and Ruhuna. The agreements are intended to enhance the local construction industry through education, innovation and knowledge sharing, according to the Sunday Observer newspaper. The agreement was signed by Janaka Weerakoon of Siam City Cement and Upul Dissanayake of the University of Peradeniya, Ananda Jayawardena of the University of Moratuwa and SGJN Senanayake of the University of Ruhuna. Insee Cement was previously known as Holcim Lanka before it was purchased by Thailand’s Siam Cement in 2016.
Russia: Sibirsky Cement expects that demand for cement in Siberia will fall by 8 – 10% to 4.7 - 4.8Mt in 2017. The cement producer said that its output decreased by 22% to 2.15Mt from its Kemerovo Region-based Topkinsky Cement, by 3% to 0.75Mt from its Krasnoyarsky Cement plant and by 10% to 0.27Mt from its Timlyuisky cement plant, according to the Prime Tass news agency. Overall its cement production fell by 17% year-on-year to 3.17Mt in 2016. It has blamed falling production on an overall decline in Russia’s cement market.